Tainted Well

"T-that c-c-concludes w-what is known on mountain t-t-t..." Quirrel bites back a sigh as the class snickers at his plight, "-Trolls. I h-hope this was i-informative for you all. S-should you run into the r-rogue t-troll, p-p-please use the spells I s-showed you." he says as the class prepares to move to their next lesson, Mr Filch already standing at the door waiting to escort them.

"Hm? Oh, it's done?" Harry mutters, looking up from his book. The lesson had been a basic one on the anatomy, ability, and behaviours of trolls, mountain trolls specifically. The man had taught a 'Grease' charm which covers a surface in an incredibly slippery substance, which was probably one of the only spells usable by First Years that might actually work against a troll.

Harry already knew it of course, so he'd buried his head in a Runes Textbook, one focussing on the differences, placement, and evolution of Celtic, Roman, and Saxon runes.

To be honest, he was just trying to waste time until he could sneak off again and see his new favourite person... Nieve. He desperately wanted to ride around on her, see what abilities she possessed, and maybe even have her eat out of his hand-, well, after he'd trained her a bit. The thought of having a carnivorous demon horse's mouth so close made even him nervous.

"Mr Potter, i-if you could s-stay behind for a m-moment? I-I have s-something to discuss with y-you." Quirrel glances at Mr Filch, "I-I will personally e-escort him t-to his next lesson."

Filch just shrugs with that permanent scowl etched on his face, turning and leaving with the students in tow.

"Did you need something, Professor?" Harry directly asks after packing his books away, his expression firmed into one of subdued curiosity.

Quirrel nods, leaning casually on his desk, "I-I see you are f-finding my class b-below you...?"

"I find all classes here beneath me..." he drawls disdainfully.

Quirrel quirks a nervous smile, "I see... B-believe it or not, but I-I thought t-the same during my t-tuition here. I r-rushed through it all, gained my N-Newts a-and adventured t-the world..." he wets his lips, "U-until the incident involving t-those v-v-vampires of course." he sheepishly admits.

"What were they like? Everything I've read about them is either clearly biased or draws too much from myth. Unless they were manmade creatures I doubt they'd be susceptible to crosses, or other holy symbols." he inquires.

"Y-you would b-be right there, Mr P-Potter, to my s-shame, I s-staked too much on s-such information."

Harry tilts his head, "Did you just make a 'stake' pun...?"

Nanthisk slithers from under his desk and onto his shoulders, "Steak...?" he hisses, the duo not noticing Quirrel's stifled smirk.

"A-allow me to get w-why I asked you h-here... I-If you wish, I c-could provide p-private material for you to s-study during class. F-far more advanced than what I-I am currently teaching."

"Really?" Harry perks up, while he disdained most 'wand-waver' magic, the efficiency per magic used couldn't be denied. Plus, knowledge was built upon knowledge, a useless fact now may become significant in future.

"I-Indeed. W-would that be a-a-amenable to you...?"

Harry nods, "I'll learn as much as you want to teach, Professor."

"G-good... S-show me your p-p-potential, and I may be p-persuaded to teach you p-privately. W-while not as famous as o-our Charms P-Professor, I have d-dueled and won against p-proficient op-opponents."

"That sounds brilliant, Professor. I'd been looking to learn to duel but there isn't a club or anything in school."

"C-come, w-we can d-discuss more as we walk. I-I'd rather you not be t-too late to class."

---------------------

"W-whatses you's doing?" a house elf squeaks as Harry barges into the school's kitchen, scanning the place for his target.

"I heard you were preparing a tea party, I was asked to come make sure 'you creatures are not doing it wrong'." he states.

The house elf's eyes widen, tears threatening to fall, "We's be doing it like we do! We's never be wrong!"

"Then show me."

With that, Harry is led to the corner of the large room where a small circular table sat, a hot kettle filled with tea already prepared and enchanted to retain its heat. The kettle, plates, and other delicate pieces of crockery were all emblazoned with the snake of House Slytherin, telling Harry exactly who it was going to.

He'd almost laughed out loud when he'd been told to stay out of the Slytherin Commonroom as the 'proper' nobles held their arrangement, as they'd literally just give him the last thing he needed to retaliate for their attempt against him.

Harry shoos off the house elf and steps to the table, taking the lid off of the kettle and dropping some incredibly small pebble-like things into it. What were they? Well, Kali had recently come across a magical variety of tapeworms that'd started infesting the wildlife nearby the treehouse. It'd come to her attention after a servant contracted them after eating tainted zebra meat.

She'd dealt with the problem, but not before collecting many samples of them due to their strange ability to mask their magical signature with their host, making them difficult to detect and remove...

It'd be interesting to see how the 'honourable nobles of ancient aristocracy' dealt with them. He was pretty sure they'd go unnoticed for a while, especially considering they weren't native to Britain. He highly doubted Madam Pomfrey would even be able to deal with them once they are discovered.

With the kettle sufficiently tainted, he pops the lid back on it and steps away, "Elf, everything seems to be in order. But I'd rather someone else handle it, you are a particularly disgusting specimen." he orders, not wanting anyone to questions the elf...

Come to think of it... He glances around, weren't there a lot more of them here? Eh, maybe they're busy, constantly cleaning and managing the school is no easy task.